


Cut The String

by RDaWeirdo



Category: Danganronpa, danganronpa v3 - Fandom, ndrv3
Genre: DICE Kokichi, Detective Rookie Kokichi, Drugs, EXPECT MORE TAGS AND WARNINGS AS I FINISH WRITING, Eventual Sexual Content, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Honestly nothing is relating to the game except the characters, Intoxication, M/M, No Despair, Racism, Racism sadly written by a white girl who is trying her best, Really big passion project, Sexual Content, Sign Language, Smut, Sort of in the future, Were-Creatures, Were-Creatures!Au, WereCat Kokichi, WereWolf Shuichi, chaptersssss, detective Shuichi, gladly will take suggestions on how to write racism better, it is a mess ok, mute characters, phantom thief!AU, slow build up, there is fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-04-24 02:54:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 14,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19164358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RDaWeirdo/pseuds/RDaWeirdo
Summary: Saihara Shuichi is a detective, and with the help of a sudden rookie with a suspicious record of villains in his head, he’ll be solving a case of war.And maybe also getting attached way too quickly for his good.





	1. It is a Prologue

There’s two types of humans. The normal human, nothing “special”, just a human. Then there’s us, the special kind. The new “Black society” as the discolored would say in pity of us. You’ve heard of our kind in fairy tales and myths, seen us in very shitty books and movies. To you we are werewolves, weredogs, whatever you like. There are others too, ones that aren’t just canines, such as the rare werebirds or maybe even the occasional werecat. The only difference is that they have found themselves better at hiding than “mans best friend.”  
For millions of years we’ve lived aside the people as either them or ourselves. Mans best friend, or man himself. Yet even with our credibility of being nonviolent to the common man now, people are brainwashed by older tales and believe us to be satan’s spawn.  
What do we get for being friends for years?  
Nothing but pain.  
Families taken away.  
Killed in the fear of us being different.  
There are 3 types of us. Ones who manage to stay hidden with the humans, safely yet hauntingly surviving with you. The ones who hide far from society with others of their kind or with their pure brethren. And then the ones like myself, a mixture.  
My name is Saihara Shuichi. I’m a detective.  
I was born into a program for werewolves, used as if we were normal dogs with a mix of human performance with crime. Unlike other previous generations of my kind, I was given a chance to prove myself to the people. And with the first generation of werewolves working for the government, this is our only chance to prove we aren’t evil. That we can be trusted.  
The program is simple. A female werewolf gives birth to the first gen of testers and we go through life being trained for detective work. The only difference between us and humans is that we must conceal ourselves from society.  
We are also assigned families to be put into as our normal animal self to “blend in” during the day. My family is a simple one, a happy family with 2 kids, both soon going to elementary school. The only part I don’t agree with is the fact the family doesn’t know I’m a werewolf. They just think the government is paying them to take care of a dog.  
Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’m either going to cooperate, or risk being killed like some of my other, more stubborn siblings. I’m fine with this life, I get money like every other human, I even have some rights, too.  
‘B-But enough about history and all that.’ Shuichi scratched his head angrily.  
‘I need to get back to work.’


	2. Chicken Nuggets and Not Enough Time

“C’mon ShuShu~! Pick me up instead!”  
Shuichi sighed, taking care of the kids was hard, especially when they were somehow so damn smart.  
The family Shuichi was assigned to had 2 kids about the time he turned 18 himself, you know, 9 months after he got put with that family.  
Luckily, he arrived before he had to listen to them reproducing. He just didn’t sign up to be constantly bothered by kids after arriving.  
But now, the kids are sorta refreshing and he doesn’t need to hide around them as long as the parents are gone, which is usually all day.  
“WHEEEEEEEEEEE~” one kid cheered as he spun around with her in his hands.  
Another one, Amina, pouted up at him as he ignored her request to spin around her sister, Quilinn.  
“Shuichi you’re no fun! I asked for a spin and you ignore me! So mean!” Amina protested at his actions, which resulted in his instant stop and chuckle.  
Quilinn didn’t like being put down either, but sometimes Amina was more of a handful than the other when angry,”Sorry Quilinn, Amina’s turn now.”  
In response there was a huff and a crossing of arms before running off, probably to go check on the chicken nuggets in the oven.  
Shuichi proceeded his endless spins with his new cadet, mindlessly starring at her excited face as he thought on once more.  
Shuichi was always technically the guard dog of their house. They treated him like one and had him always present to babysitter conferences. That’s why he chose a specific girl to be the babysitter.  
Her name was Akamatsu Kaede. She was currently in the kitchen with Quilinn, avidly watching the chicken nuggets in the oven. She was a nice girl, wholesome all around. When the kids got used to her, they sorta spoon fed her that Shuichi was a werewolf. It led to awkward conversations later on when the kids were napping if he ever looked up her skirt while he was so low to her.  
Shuichi would respond with,”Ah.... s-sorry...”  
Things went back to normal between the 4 rather quickly, at least it had to be for the kids, too innocent.  
Other than that, Shuichi was quickly grabbed by her to help out with the handful of kids, she did need payback for all the accidental and one time definitely accidental skirt look ups after all.  
Shuichi stopped spinning, clumsily putting Amina down, who giggled drunkenly as she walked away towards Kaede for lunch.  
Man were they handfuls, but he loved them all the same.  
He just didn’t know how they found out about him being a werewolf. They were extremely smart kids, definitely going places, but he never gave signs out, did he?  
It just happened out of the blue. He was napping on the couch when suddenly Amina whispered to him that she knew his secret, that she’d see him through the window coming home and turning into a cute doggy each day. He was honestly shocked, and of course, little Quilinn nodded absently to Amina’s knowledge in agreement.  
It wasn’t like he wasn’t going to take the opportunity to change back into a human when he knew these two knew as well. He just felt more comfortable being human, so he always praised the kids when he could for letting him be him.  
“Hey, Saihara-kun, gonna eat right?” Kaede leaned over to look closer at Shuichi’s oddly calculative face toward the nuggets,”or did I accidentally burn them too much for you again?”  
“Oh uh-“ He stammered, grabbing a nugget,”-n-no they are fine, just thinking, that’s all!”  
Kaede nodded at his reply, she understood that sometimes, just sometimes, Shuichi would start loosing track of time to just mindlessly think. It was just his calculating side, and sorta something that comforts him while he still gets used to not hiding behind his hat companion he lost to the kids.  
After the long lunch of trying to get the kids to stop playing with their Dino nuggets, the kids were put to sleep by Kaede’s lovely piano skills the kids always beg to fall asleep to.  
“So-“ she tucked part of her hair back behind her ear,”-after today we’ll probably never see each other again, huh?”  
Shuichi looked up at her, face saddening,”seems so, I just hope the kids can handle not seeing you anymore...”  
“Ah don’t worry about it, they are smart, they’ll figure it out without me,” she replied with a slightly defeated tone.  
“And either way-“ she took a sip of her left over milk,”-I’m sure there will be days where they need a babysitter again, you know like, off days that the parents can’t get off either?”  
Shuichi nodded, turning his expressions to the sleeping faces, feeling lost.  
Kaede frowned at him,”C’mon, cheer up you sappy dog! We can always just keep doing our nightly talks while I’m away.”  
Shuichi huffed at her, but he understood it was all they could do to keep in contact.  
It was hard to keep in contact with humans you grew fond of. One slept at night while the other usually slept most of the day, the only thing they had were their phones and any ounce of coffee that kept Kaede awake to talk.  
Kaede’s cold hand on his shoulder woke him from his thoughts, turning to her with a sort of startle,”hey, let’s go upstairs now, talking here will just wake the kids.”  
“Yeah... ok...”  
They went upstairs, but only to talk and the occasional hug to each other. It was hard being separated due to things you couldn’t control in your body. Shuichi wanted to stay with her, have long naps on her thighs when he got exhausted from working too late, always feeling that pleasant hand motion on his back or head when he snoozed. Now it was all going to disappear to the occasional sloppily quick or rough pets from his family.  
At one point of their time up there, he remembered nestling his dog head on her thighs, whining softly as she petted him into a soothing, long, sleep.  
As normal dog instinct told Shuichi, he couldn’t let go of his best friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ve come up with a schedule : ]
> 
> It’ll be every Monday unless something comes up!


	3. Intermission

The next few days of Shuichi’s life went painfully slow.  
It was his second day now of being alone in that dreadfully silent house. He missed the kids giggles, even if one technically couldn’t. He missed evening piano sessions with the three, even if the kids bullied him too when he would mess up a tune and get scolded by Kaede. He missed having his only adult friend around, having silent conversations upstairs as the kids slumber about, well, adult things.  
He sighed, turning off the tv in the adults room when he heard the faint rumble of a car parking outside and the cheers of the kids ready to see him again.  
Quickly he placed everything he touched back in its place, then changed back into his animal form. With one last sniff, he came running down the stairs to his family, relishing in the softest breath of Quilinn laughing noiselessly and Amina’s quick yet pleasant chin scratches.  
The family went on with their business, Shuichi idling away in his “doggy bed.” He watched the parents bicker over what to eat today, the kids chiming in saying to just eat ice cream for dinner. The kids would run off upstairs with dad, probably to get help with homework. The mother stayed down, watching tv in the living room Shuichi’s bed was in and cooking dinner when things would beep for her.  
Even with the loud noise of the tv, Shuichi started to doze off. He honestly was exhausted from the loneliness he never known he’d ever wish to just go away.  
He would always think,’I wish I was alone right now,’ or,’I really would love to just pass out on a real bed as a human would.”  
But now that he had that chance with the kids now gone most of the day, he didn’t enjoy it. He didn’t know how much he loved company. Maybe it was because he would be given so much time alone when he was working that it made up for it, but Shuichi just.... didn’t know.  
——  
Shuichi was woken up for his dinner, then waited patiently as his family went to sleep. He walked up to the girls sleeping bodies, sniffing their dangling hands and giving them a loving lick goodnight before he left.  
When he got out of his little doggy door and got a relative distance away, he changed back to human. Making his way downtown to his work was always simple and easy, just gotta ignore the threats from people who are racist.  
But Shuichi wasn’t the only being who dropped their differences when it came to the intersection of the city that day.  
Bright lights, flashing images of commercials, now those were complimentary to this section he passed each day, but not today. Oh no, far from normal, it was about the same startled feeling as that panda video of the baby sneezing.  
Cause just out of the blue all the people around there could hear was,”BEHOLD WORTHLESS BEINGS! IT IS I, THE MIGHTY PHANTOM THIEF HERE TO BLESS YOU ONCE MORE!!!”  
About half of the people stared at the screens with confusion, other percentages counted about 40% shock and the other 10% was knowing glances like they’ve heard of this person before. Shuichi considered himself to be the half population.  
“Awwww c’mon! Don’t look at me all dumbfounded like that!” The clown mask mocked,”I’m sure all of you remember me-“  
The figure paused, almost looking over the camera a bit, then shook their head and giggled,”ah yes sorry, I forgot we only have so much broadcasting time.”  
The clown mask coughed exaggeratedly,”I, Mr Phantom Thief, am here on behalf of my kind to bring you all a, well, sort of proposal- oh what am I kidding I’m not formal?!” The figure chuckled,”IM DECLARING WAR!” It stated, causing a tiny yet noticeable gasp from the crowd.  
“THAT’S RIGHT-“ the freak pointed at the camera, waving it childishly,”-I’m gonna end all of y’alls careers! And I’m gonna do it for-“  
Static. Static was all that the screen played for about 1.2 seconds before a woman came on announcing her apologies to.... whatever happened.


	4. A Job For Two

“I’d like to investigate that broadcast interruption, sir.”  
Shuichi’s boss looked at him with interest,”The recently discovered one? Is it because you probably ran into it when walking here, hmmm?”  
Shuichi nodded,”yes, sir.”  
“Alright-“ he picked up some papers from his drawer,”-answer me these, Mr Saihara.”  
Ah yes, the multiple questions interrogated onto those who desire to get into specific cases. It was mainly mandatory for the werewolves here, incase the case is too much for them.  
“How many cases have you solved so far?”  
“13, sir.”  
“Number of dropped cases?”  
“0.”  
“Any previous cases with a partner?”  
“None.”  
“How many long term cases have you solved?”  
“6.”  
“Solved any cold cases?”  
“5.”  
The boss nodded, putting his notes back into his desk,”Alright, I’ll give you the case but on one condition.”  
“Anything, sir.”  
“You’ll have to work with someone else interested in the case. You haven’t worked with anyone yet and I’d like for you to expand on that subject, you’re good out there after all. None have come forward yet to take the case, but I’m sure there will be some rookie or someone interested in a fresh cold case opening up.”  
“Ah, alright thank you.” Shuichi didn’t notice how much he beamed at the thought of having a partner, but the boss could tell he was excited.  
“For now, go work on some small cases until tomorrow, I’m sure by then someone would be interested. We’ll drop a notice in your box when you get a partner.” He dismissed the boy with a wave of his hand.  
Nobody in the work force had really seen Shuichi this excited.  
——  
“I want this case! Pwetty pwease mwista bwoss!!”  
Arguably one of the most annoying workers was in this Masaki’s office right now. A new recruit recently going under a new training of taking in stray were animals and using them for the agency.  
He was a small rascal, a new breed of were animal that they discovered from this little ball of energy itself; a werecat. They considered adopting this thing into the force about as soon as they caught it in the streets. Bugger was a fast little shit, tricky and devilish, bout the same energy as a chaotic evil being.  
Yet, this one cat’s proposals to the government to not kill him seemed like a striking deal. This man seemed to know a lot, said he knew all about enemy terfs like the back of his hand, paw, whatever. Knew all about lies and truths, could even read the main man he sat begging for the case in a glance over.  
Not only that, but this small thing brought up interesting facts about many, and I mean MANY, interestingly disturbing facts on cold cases.  
The thing the man in charge wasn’t expecting was for the cat to try and seduce him to get the case by whispering erotically into his ear about how he once studied this “DICE” group while doing-  
“OK THAT’S ENOUGH!” The big boss roared out, startling the little shit to go do that weird things cats do, you know arching their backs.  
“Maaaaan! C’mon old man! Don’t do me like that!” He purposely climbed onto his bosses desk, knocking over papers.  
Oh was this man ready to beat this- no, no, play it cool, you need his intelligence if you like it or not.  
“I’ll give you the damn case....” he muffled angrily.  
“Hmmm? What was that?” The cat strained.  
“I’ll give you the case.” Masaki glared.  
“One more time? I like to milk things like your silky voice.”  
“YOU’RE GOING TO BE WORKING WITH SOMEONE ELSE ON THIS, NOW GET OUT AND GO HOME BEFORE I BEAT YOU!” The man strained out, ready to pluck that shit off his desk and strangle it.  
Oh how he wish he did, as when that devil smirked back at him, the cat turned human on his desk as it rolled off, knocking all his work off.  
There was an audible thud on the demon’s impact, but it didn’t matter, cats land on their feet after all. And before big boss could stand up to go step on the man, the man in speaking was gone.  
Masaki grumbled, taking out a paper to start his letters to the boys.  
‘Dear Mr Saihara  
We’ve found you your partner. We just hope you can handle him.  
He is a literal demon, and a new recruit who is a werecat. Please try to be patient as we don’t want a murder (even though I’d gladly defend you in this case) nor to have to get rid of our best dog.

From until the case is solved, your partner will be-

Ouma Kokichi.’


	5. Visible

The next days morning went by fast, family leaving and returning in what seemed like a hurried rush. He was thrilled and anxious, ready to have someone to talk to now that Kaede was working other jobs and couldn’t text as much.  
When the time came to leave, he did his routine and then sprinted out the door, too excited to even hear the racist comments flung out at his kind.  
He huffed when he rested at the mailboxes for all of the workers. He quickly opened it, messing up the code a few times from clumsy excitement. Shuichi took out the new residence of paper in his mail and read it.  
He wasn’t expecting such an informal letter from the boss. Shuichi squinted at it, standing there confused until he was beckoned aside by other workers coming to their boxes.  
The only formal part was,’please come to room 157, that’s where you two will be stationed for working on this case.’  
Shuichi scratches his head, was this Kokichi person really a handful as his boss said he was?  
Well, it didn’t matter now as he pocketed his paper and started to head out. He stopped though when he noticed a short man straining to reach for his mailbox  
“Would you like help?” Shuichi came up to the boy who seemed to glare at him at the comment, but quickly hid it with a smirk.  
“Oh gladly! Would you mind bashing my head in? This job is so tedious! And they wonder why I don’t look at my mail....” he growled out the last part, but Shuichi dismissed it for the first part.  
“Wh-what?” Shuichi questioned with a stammer.  
“I said yes, now will ya help me open this or nah?”  
“Uh um, yeah, what’s your password?” Shuichi placed his hand near the insert pad, ready to input at the start of the little ones words.  
All he got in return was the boy’s blank stare.  
“Um, do you want it open or not?”  
“Well, you’d think you’d want to take me out on a date first before I give out personal info, yeah?” The man scoffed, looking at his hand in a sort of boredom.  
“This... this is only so then I can help you, you know that right?”  
“Yeah-“ his demeanor changed rabidly,”-buuuut! It is sooooo personal! I wouldn’t give out my password to work to some stranger!”  
The little man whines more,”not only are you asking, but you seem so desperate! Have I found myself facing my secret admirer!?”  
Shuichi was taken aback by this comment shouting back,”what? No I’m just trying to help out since you’re obviously too short!”  
This resulted in more (what Shuichi would call) fake tears,”WAAAAAAAAH!!!!! WHY WOULD YOU INSULT A MAN’S PRIDE AND JOY; HIS HEIGHT!! YOU’RE SO MEEEEAAAAAN!!!!!”  
Shuichi’s anger curled up into an annoyed smile,’this guys more annoying than Amina when she doesn’t get her way!’  
“Look,” Shuichi started,”I’m trying to get to work, and I’m sure you are too, so just give me the password-that I’ll probably forget-and let’s just go on with our lives, yeah?”  
The rat looked down, thinking, then began,”yeah sure, I don’t know why I even said all that, haha oopsies!!”  
Shuichi was just about ready to punch this guy,”mhmm ok now tell me.”  
“Alright the password is D1(3K1N6,” he blurted out fast, almost too fast for Shuichi to keep up too, but he got it.  
“Alright this should work and-“  
And out came a river of papers and letters.  
Shuichi sputtered, dropping down to try and help pick things up.  
“Why- why is there so much stuff?!” He scrambled to pick the papers from the floor.  
“As you said, I’m a small boy,” The jokester mocked, kneeling down to watch Shuichi instead of help him.  
Shuichi was about to protest the boys watching, when he noticed a letter in a similar state as the one in his pocket.  
“Are.... are you by chance umm.... Ouma-kun?” He looked towards the boys face.  
This ‘Ouma-kun’ person smirked at Shuichi,”why yes! I’m very famous, that’s why I played hard to get.”  
“Uhuh...” Shuichi stood back up, clutching onto the papers,”what should I do with these?”  
“Well now that I know you are my partner there was no need for all this!! You’re so mean to me!!! I was being a good detective for once and looking at my mail and you ruined iiiiit!!!!” Kokichi wailed, causing the still remaining residents to glare at them.  
“Ah um, sorry? But it isn’t my fault I just so happened to be the same person you’re partnered with and trying to be helpful...”  
“I don’t care! You’re a big meanie!” The boy huffed, causing Shuichi to sigh.  
“Ok, look, we have to get to work either way, so let’s just put these away and get to work, ok? No more crying.”  
Kokichi immediately changed once more,”oh I’m not crying, you’re just gullible!”  
Shuichi sighed,”whatever you say, Ouma-kun.”


	6. A Telling

Going to room 157 was a big mistake.  
Now you’d think hearing “Kokichi never talked during the whole thing” would’ve been a blessing, but it wasn’t. Not only did he continue to annoy Shuichi and the boss as he was trying to explain everything going on, but he managed to make them both absolutely uncomfortable.  
“So you two must know each other’s names by now since you came in together, right?”  
“Y-Yes.... I uh, I told him on our way here.” Shuichi stared ahead at Masaki.  
“......”  
“..........um..... sir?”  
“Let me tell you this straight Saihara,” he started with a grim face.  
Shuichi swallowed hard as his boss pulled out a taser,”I’m going to tase him, if they ask tell them it was self defense.”  
On cue, Kokichi instantly jumped off the top of the angry man’s head with a snicker. When he was atop the man, he was facing away from them, cat tail swishing in the face of his boss in mockery.  
Masaki put his taser away with a gruff mumble, probably one of “damnit” due to his missed opportunity. He brought it back up after noticing Kokichi curling around Shuichi’s neck, his face flushing in embarrassment.  
“I can tase him for you,” he sounded excited, like it would get him off to hurt satan himself.  
“N-No, just continue...” Shuichi quickly regretted his words when Kokichi licked his face in gratitude.  
Shuichi was shot a final questioning glance, but shook his flourished head.  
His boss sighed,”well then, let’s go over the small info and then you two can get to working.”  
——  
It took awhile to get Kokichi off of Shuichi when the time came for them to work. Kokichi constantly hissed and swatted at him drowsily whenever he tried to get him off his neck. He didn’t understand why Kokichi was so determined to sleep.  
But eventually, Kokichi crawled off Shuichi, turning back to human to sit on the opposite side of his partner’s desk.  
Kokichi yawned loudly,”why does there have to be so many papers?”  
“It is all the witness reports, we were told this already.” Shuichi read over a paper, disappointment in his partner present on his face.  
Kokichi stared at the papers, his breath coming out heavily from the desire to sleep. He then looked up at Shuichi, who grabbed another paper from the pile after finishing the previous.  
After awhile more, he spoke up,”were you there when it happened?”  
The cat was flashed an interested look,”yeah,” the reply came in short, Shuichi going back to his paper quickly.  
“What’s your testimony then?”  
Shuichi places his paper down, thinking and then speaking,”I was in a busy intersection when suddenly all the ad boards came up with some masked clown.” Kokichi nodded  
“Anything else? Details on the person in question, voice, actions, come on now, be disgustingly specific to me,” Kokichi pressured.  
“Alright-“ Shuichi swallowed,”-the person in question most likely auto tuned their voice to be more childish or they have very high vocals, not only that, but they seemed to be extremely small when I got a glimpse of them backing away from their camera.”  
Kokichi waited, then got more,”wore some sort of hat and cape, had an odd looking outfit that reminds me of straight jackets and a checkered scarf-“  
“Wooow~!! So it really was Dice after all!”  
Shuichi was taken aback by Kokichi’s sudden cut in, eyes questioning him.  
Kokichi jumped forward as he spoke,“Ah, you see I’m a big fan of these guys! I actually own my own checkered scarf too as a memorial of my love for them.... oh oh and they’ve gone missing for a year and all of a sudden they’re back and kicking, isn’t that just interesting, huh? Huh?” His eyes beamed at the detective, his interest being backed up by his expression alone.  
“So you must know a lot about these guys, right? Do you think you’d know any schemes they could be playing here?”  
Kokichi instantly sat back down with a strict and thoughtful face,”they’re like ghosts, you can catch em on cameras, hear them, see their acts, but you can’t ever catch them physically.”  
Shuichi nodded, these were interesting facts indeed. For example how for some reason this clown, and as he would later hear from Kokichi’s ramblings, and his goons always evaded the police just on time. Not to mention the fact they once got so controversial the FBI themselves had to step in and the most they could get is a video of this Dice group hitting a homemade piñata of a typical FBI agent.  
It was absolutely mind boggling, but before Kokichi could seem to hit the most juicy of details, an announcement came on for the were workers to go eat before being dismissed home.  
—————————————————————  
While they ate, Kokichi kept up his excited rambling and Shuichi kept his ears open. There were plenty of interesting stories and parts, some he was pretty sure were what he would call compulsive lying from the little boy, but interesting nonetheless.  
But the one that stuck out was the one about a kidnapping. This one seemed to be the most unusual to the group. They weren’t exactly malicious, no, never, far from it. But the words Kokichi spoke intrigued Shuichi, him seeming to lean in as the devil spun his web.  
“One time,” satan whispered out eerily,”I heard the leader kidnapped a detective.”  
An imaginary pointed tail and horns seemed to sprout from nowhere,”it was said the detective got too close to the leader...” the devil tapped his fingers on the table, food being left to rot to tell a tale.  
His saddened (lying) eyes looked up at the naive angel’s,”both in finding them, and in a relationship sense.”  
The innocent’s eyes wavered, widening and intrigued,”but why?”  
“Clowns always loved to toy with emotions of people, it’s just that some get too caught in the act that they don’t realize until it is too late.”  
“Too late for what?”  
“That they love them back.”  
And then the web was spun.


	7. Unexpected Everything

Tug tug tug  
That’s all Shuichi could feel on his tail. Quilinn was persistent on getting Shuichi’s attention, probably to show him something, but sadly, he couldn’t pay attention due to the parents still being present. At least Quilinn was enjoying herself, getting revenge for him not spinning her more instead of her sister.  
It took 30 more minutes of her doing this for Kaede to finally arrive and baby sit for the first time in a few days, kids finally had a day off.  
He was greatly excited, greeting Kaede at the door, tail wagging and barking excitedly like a normal dog would. He was a little too excited in anyone’s eyes who would see him as both human and dog, but he didn’t care.  
When the parents left, kaede turned back to Shuichi who was now in his human form,”you’re extremely hyper today, did you miss me that much?”  
“Yeah...” he looked down, embarrassed now.  
But not to worry, for Kaede just smiled it off and patted his head.  
——  
When everything was done being situated, Shuichi was finally able to sit down with Quilinn and see what she wanted to show him.  
She brought up her hands, making motions with them to her viewer. Shuichi at first tilted his head, then perked up as he recognized some of the symbols from his sign language classes. They were small classes, but mandatory in case you had to inspect a mute person.  
With this knowledge, Shuichi could pick up “I love you” which made him beam at the girl. Quilinn noticed his smile and giggled silently as he hugged her.  
“You’re too cute,” he mumbled, earning another happy face from the girl.  
“What you two doing?” Kaede called from her spot with Amina, helping her with homework.  
“Ah, Quilinn just showed me what she learned in school,” he responded.  
“And that was?” Kaede tilted her head, but in return her reply was Quilinn running up to her ready to repeat the same hand motion again.  
It took awhile for Kaede to understand, Shuichi having to explain it to her.  
Amina looked up from her notes with a pout, she always preferred all eyes on her, but decided to just angrily stare back down at her homework that she saw as repetitive and boring.  
Out of the corner of Amina’s eyes though, she noticed the little doggy door cracked open with something peeking through it.  
“Uh....” she verbalized.  
“Akamatsu-San.” She tugged on her babysitter’s skirt gently.  
When she didn’t get a response, she tugged harder,”Akamatsu-San!”  
Kaede turned to her with a blushed face, tugging back on her skirt,”yes, what is it Amina?”  
But before Amina could point and speak, her show was stolen as Shuichi suddenly bolted right out the door.  
“What the heeee-hecky!?” Kaede yelled out, correcting her wording and getting up to chase after Shuichi.  
As she scrambled to open the door she turned back to the kids, telling them to stay put until everything was settled.  
As soon as she opened the door, she noticed Shuichi coming right back, his face not happy.  
“What was that?” She whispered.  
“I don’t know, at first I thought that maybe... no no, it couldn’t be, the smell was off...” he mumbled as he came back in, switching human as the door closed.  
“What?” Kaede stopped him from going further,”what’s going on, tell me.”  
Shuichi had to double take before speaking,”I thought... I thought I saw someone I knew...”  
Kaede tilted her head,”from work? Why would they be here? Shouldn’t they be with their family?”  
“Not all of us are were animals, Akamatsu-san.”  
“Oh well uh,” she stammered,”well either way, why would they come here?”  
Shuichi shrugged, he had no idea, but the kids were getting suspicious and they had to end their conversation for now.  
—————————————————————  
The two sat eating their lunch. The day had gone by fast, especially when Kokichi spent most of it blabbering about Dice and detectives to no end. Shuichi would listen intently, but learned at a time in his past life to read and listen, going through papers quickly while retaining Kokichi’s words. The only sad part is that he forgot what he wanted to ask him about today.  
Sometimes he’d be reading and hear a jealous ”are you even listening to me?” from his presenter which he’d respond with a “yes, Ouma-kun.”  
Though now that Kokichi had spilled about most things, lunch went by agonizingly slow.  
Until Shuichi figured out one thing he wanted to say after a long dialogue.  
“Do.... do you think we’ll actually be able to find them?” Shuichi looked up from his meal, uncertainty in his eyes.  
Kokichi choked on his food a little bit, not expecting that question. He stared blankly at Shuichi, concocting a response.  
“Well,” he said, leaning forward,”I like to think that someday I’ll catch them off guard.”  
“But the possibility is very low.”  
Shuichi grimaced, were they really not capable of finding them? The best dog and the knowledgeable cat, could they seriously not trick the trickster?  
“But even so-” Kokichi directed the attention back to him,”-if we can’t figure it out, we’ll at least get closer, right? I heard you never had a partner, and neither have I ever really had any friends, so...”  
Shuichi stared, Kokichi’s expression was lonely and it hurt his heart to see.  
“But that’s a lie.”  
His heart dropped.  
“I don’t need friends, they just hold me back! But I’ll play with you for now Mr detective!”  
——  
Shuichi came home exhausted and broken.  
He was really hoping to keep up his new friend, but it seemed he hasn’t even made a friend, they just talked and were working on a crime.  
He was hoping so hard that he’d have constant company again, be able to laugh and share things with someone. It was shattered all by some little gremlin who only enjoyed his little obsessions.  
He sighed, trying to fall asleep in his doggy bed. Yet he could not rest, his head kept running and keeping him up.  
He kept thinking, thinking of the demon who talked to him, kept him company the past 2 days of working with him.  
It was now Saturday. And as he unexpectedly drifted asleep, he wondered what he could do to change the little cat’s mind on him. He was desperate, he couldn’t deal being alone anymore. Sure, before he lost his hat and had to take care of the kids he’d be all welcoming to Kokichi’s words there, but now it hurt. He was starving for a friend, someone to stay by and admire other than Kaede.  
He needed to figure it out, but first, he needed his beauty sleep.


	8. The Life Crisis of A Shut In

Kaida Elmer and Lexie.  
Those were Shuichi’s owners, two kind people with too much time on their hands and waaaay too much money. When it came to weekends, Shuichi was always alone. They’d go out and do things, sometimes they’d even take Shuichi out.  
But today, Shuichi was left to guard the house. He was fine with this, it was usual, and either way it gave him time to think out the case and how to get a friend.  
Honestly now that he thought about it, he knew nothing about Kokichi other than his love for Dice and an interest in detectives. It has only been two days, so it is probably natural Shuichi wouldn’t know much. They were working together on a threat case after all, bonding should be the last thing they’re doing.  
But Shuichi is stubborn, finding himself screaming into the sheets of Mr and Mrs Kaida’s bed while the tv blared nonsense. Was he this desperate for company? Yes, yes he was. In fact, he was so desperate, that he had snuck his work phone back home with him to talk to Kaede on how to make friends.

Shuichi: Akamatsu-San I need help  
Kaede: Saihara-kun, why do you have your phone on you this early in the morning?

Shuichi frowned at the screen, typing a response that he tried not to make embarrassing.  
He failed.

Shuichi: that doesn’t matter right now, I need help making friends  
Shuichi: I mean, I’m working on a case with someone so I might as well learn to...  
Kaede: you’re such a shut in  
Kaede: but sure I’ll help you

Shuichi mentally cheered, his face getting brighter, without embarrassment this time of course.

Kaede: but don’t expect every reply quickly, I’m just heading to my next job since I’m not babysitting your family  
Shuichi: that’s fine! Thank you Akamatsu-San!  
Kaede: ah shit, serious problem

Shuichi started to panic.

Shuichi: what? Are you ok?  
Kaede: I’m fine it is just  
Kaede: I found the house, guess I can’t talk till nap time  
Kaede: sorry Saihara-kun!  
Kaede: but don’t worry! Just try and think about conversation starters or something, see ya!

He felt like tossing his phone straight at the wall, but settled with tossing it aside on the bed after replying and burying his face back into the sheets. Why was the world so against him on making a new friend!  
But then he thought,’why do I have to stick to Ouma-kun as a friend? I have other coworkers!’ Although a good thought, he quickly shut it down.  
“No,” he huffed aloud,”I can’t do that either.”  
Even though the other people knew Shuichi better, they mainly only knew him for the first half a scared, but good, detective who hid under a hat and panicked if accidentally ran into. Sure, he had a year and a half of no hat and getting back into the shape of normal life before his hat, but....  
The last time he ran into his boss on accident was 8 months ago, and well, his boss even started to panic remembering all the times Shuichi started to break down when this just so happened.  
Shuichi shook his head. Yep, there was no way he could figure out how to talk to anyone else, but Kokichi was new here. A new face, a new mindset. This boy knew nothing of previous mishaps with him, making him the perfect target to get close to. If only he wasn’t set on being alone after this case goes cold or gets closed.  
He sighed, thinking hard on what Kaede said. He honestly was not much of a starter when it came to talking. Shuichi would leave it up in the air, a sign saying ‘you can talk to me if you want, but I’ll probably not talk to you first unless dire,’ always above head.  
He sat for awhile in bed, thinking but never getting far. At one point, he was so into thinking he even let an odd sound downstairs go for just the house settling.  
Eventually his stomach growled at him, making him realize the time. Shuichi, defeated by the conversation lord, went downstairs to find food.  
As he sadly ate, he came up with an idea.  
‘I could always ask what he likes to eat? Maybe bring in something he likes when it isn’t suspicious, like maybe his birthday? If.... if I can figure out his birthday...’ his brain wondered as he ate.  
‘But how could I figure that out? Ouma-kun is pretty smart so he’d probably figure out I’m desperate for a friend and then I’ll just be embarrassed even more.’  
He grumbled as he stuffed his face, the anxiety of being caught too excited to make a friend making him eat a little too much. In fact, by the time he realized he ate too much, he was whining at every step he took.  
“Why did I eat so muuuuch....” he managed to choke out as he climbed right back into the bed.  
The tv called out silently to Shuichi, but he was falling into a food coma before he could even think. The last thing he heard he blamed on his drowsiness.  
It was a chuckle.  
——  
When Shuichi finally woke up, he groaned and turned to find the clock. He slept for 5 hours and mentally he was angry at himself for missing the opportunity to think. Not even that, but he missed a lot of texts from Kaede, who was probably now worried about him not responding and keeping kids in check. The only good part was that physically his body thanked him for the sleep.  
Until he got up to go downstairs, then his body was angry at him too. He felt like jello and was sweating from the heat of sleeping. After turning the tv off, Shuichi stumbled down the stairs, almost falling from how fragile he felt.  
He flopped onto the couch, his body feeling like it was in flames. He felt constrained and gross, but he couldn’t figure it out. The only thing Shuichi could do was rub his face against the couch hoping to find the cold.


	9. Definitely the Most Boring Chapter

Kokichi enjoyed working with the mutt the past few days, but now it was just awkward. He honestly didn’t know his partner would turn out to be extremely socially inept.  
‘I should’ve realized this by now...” he chewed slightly on his nail as he stopped reading papers to see the mutt,’I literally led all the conversations for Pete’s sake!’  
‘I honestly wish I knew beforehand,’ he sighed mentally,’would’ve spaced out my stories, this is boring as all hell.’  
Kokichi set his paper down, he’d already read it a dozen times on all the other papers. Same old ‘masked figure highjacking commercial boards in the main intersection and the war on the people.’ Not only was it boring, but he was sure he could even get away with just taking a nap in front of his partner.  
‘Actually, that sounds like a good idea...’ he yawned, feeling that familiar drowsiness.  
He turned to his little cat form and curled up on his chair, thankfully cushioned too, how generous.  
But before he could fully go zzzzz, Shuichi seemed to notice him, damn.  
“Nggh let me sleep....” He stretched, getting into an even comfier spot.  
“Well you should’ve gotten sleep at home, Ouma-kun, but now is work and I need to talk to you. Please listen,” Shuichi begged, knowing from his neck incident that this cat was tricky on waking up.  
Kokichi rubbed his face against the chair,”just say it, I’m sure I can’t fall asleep with your nasty voice.”  
“Nasty voice? I,“ he sighed,”whatever just- do you have any knowledge on this guys race at all, like is he human or were animal or something?”  
Kokichi perked, sitting up slowly to look at Shuichi, who also looked back at him with listening eyes.  
“Nobody knows their race.” He turned away.  
“All they know is that he has never shown signs of being anything but human, that’s all I know.”  
Shuichi nodded, pocketing commenting on Kokichi’s downcast look.  
“So we can’t make assumptions and blame his threat on humans solely.” Shuichi looked down, continuing to think.  
“Have they tried locating the place they broadcasted yet?” Kokichi cut into his thoughts.  
Shuichi instantly went towards the desk’s drawer to rummage for a paper. When he found it, a little ‘aha’ came out of his mouth. Kokichi found this cute.  
“They found the location yesterday, I must’ve forgotten to mention it when I was listening to you,” he spoke gently, then blinked.  
“Speaking of things I forgot to ask you, I-“  
“Awww~ did you forget you wanted to ask me out Saihara-Chan? That’s cute~” Kokichi hummed.  
“Wh-what!?” Shuichi yelped in confusion, earning a snicker from the boy.  
“Nishishi~! I’m joking Saihara-Chan! You’re absolutely intolerable so I’d say no, but you are cute,” Kokichi giggled out, causing Shuichi more distress.  
Shuichi was blushing, faintly, but blushing,”why.... why are you calling me by that honorific, Ouma-kun?”  
“Hmm?” He hopped onto the desk, navigating through the papers to get to Shuichi.  
When he reached his destination, he jumped into the lap of the startled partner,”I had a lot of sisters growing up, I sorta call people that sometimes and stick with it. Is it a problem~?” He purred into the mutt’s lap.  
“Uh um,” Shuichi stammered, blush growing bigger,”n-no, ahem, i-it’s fine...”  
“Mm, good, now what were you going to ask me, huh Mr detective?”  
“Well-“ Shuichi gulped,”yesterday I could’ve sworn I saw you peaking through my dog door.”  
Kokichi had almost tensed up, just almost,”huuuuuuh??? Me??? I don’t even know where you live Saihara-Chan!”  
“Well, that’s the thing, it didn’t smell like you so it also couldn’t be you but it also smelt familiar and-“  
“What did it smell like?”  
Shuichi thought back,”hmmm... I guess like... maybe cotton candy? I don’t know, but now that I think of it, it reminds me of a circus.”  
“Wooooow!!!”  
Shuichi was absolutely startled as Kokichi practically jumped and placed his face only a few centimeters from Shuichi. His paws rested on Shuichi’s chest, his eyes sharing the same brightness as the past few days ted talks, and his hind paws sat perfectly on each thigh.  
“Saihara-Chan, you just had a visit from the Phantom Thief himself! You’re so lucky! I envy you!”  
Shuichi blinked back his embarrassment,”I-Is it that l-lucky? What if he planted something dangerous and... oh god the kids...”  
Kokichi’s expression dropped, head tilting to the side,”kids?”  
Before Shuichi could explain, Kokichi cut him off,”YOU’RE A FATHER!?!?”  
“What no-“  
“I can’t believe it! My future husband is already bearing!!” Kokichi cried, fake tears gushing.  
“HUSBAND?!” Shuichi glared with confusion,”DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT MEANINGS FOR PARTNERS?”  
“Oh no I know.” Kokichi smirked.  
Shuichi huffed, picking up the gremlin and trying to stand up. This, of course, caused intense panic from Kokichi, resulting in hissing and flailing about. Oh and Shuichi dropping him back onto his lap awkwardly.  
“WHAT THE HELL SAIHARA-CHAN!!! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?!?!” He whined, scrambling to get ahold of himself on Shuichi’s... quivering lap?  
Kokichi instantly realized what was happening, rolling off of Shuichi and onto the floor to hide under the table.  
“Ew!!! Look what you’ve made me, I’m a sick pervert now!!”  
“You’re the one... who wanted to lay on my lap,” his hand covered his blushing face as he spoke.  
He hid his eyes behind his eyelids, his anxiety hitting him too much to look at the cat. It was honestly really hitting him hard.  
He could feel a gentle rub on his leg, resulting in his curiosity looking. There he was, that little devil, staring right back up at him with what seemed to be apologetic eyes. Although he was still flustered to no end, his hand removed itself from his face on instinct, petting the cat back.  
They both could say they saw this as a calming gesture, a way of saying ‘sorry’ and ‘I’m fine now, thank you.’  
——  
The time to leave came faster than they thought.  
It wasn’t like they did much the whole day, but it also felt like after what happened they could sorta have silent conversations.  
As they were walking out, Kokichi stopped Shuichi.  
“Can I come home with you?”  
The question came out of the blue, Shuichi just thinking that little tug on the back of his shirt was so then Kokichi could do something odd when he turned around.  
“Please,” Kokichi pleaded again, trying to pry the answer out of the silent Shuichi.  
“I... I don’t know.... why?”  
“I don’t like my family.”  
“Why not?”  
“Well....”  
Shuichi waited patiently for Kokichi’s answer, he seemed anxious to say it to him, was it really that bad?  
“They.... they like to have sex 24/7 Saihara-Chan.”  
“What.”  
“Saihara-Chan this is serious! They sometimes even do it right in front of me and it is so grooooss!! Please take me home with you!”  
Shuichi was at a loss for words,”I-“  
“I’ll do anything, please? It has gotten to the point that I can’t get sleep, not even going outside to sleep works cause there’s a loud ass dog! I mean seriously, I’m sure if the dog wasn’t there I’d still hear them outside! They are both so loud and act like porn stars! It’s disgusting!!!!”  
Shuichi raised his hand at the boy, begging for the details to stop. The boy obliged, looking disgusted by his own words.  
“Is.... is this true? Cause if so I would love to take you from.... that... but I don’t know if I can.”  
The boy’s eyes wondered down to the ground, his expression hidden.  
“O-Ouma-kun?”  
But then came a giggle.  
Then a full body wave of laughter.  
Maybe even an earthquake at that.  
“NISHISHISHIIII~!! SAIHARA-CHAN YOU’RE SOOOOO GULLIBLE!!!”  
“Excuse me?” Shuichi frowned at the giggling mess.  
“MY FAMILY DOESN’T GO KINKY CRAZY 24/7, I’D HAVE RUN AWAY AS SOON AS I COULD IF I FOUND THEM DOING SO!” Kokichi’s smile was beginning to hurt.  
“Ouma-kun, you shouldn’t be joking about that, I really thought you were getting sleep deprived over a horny couple...”  
“Hehe~ keep worrying cause there is a really loud ass dog outside, it is hard to sleep when it is always barking, so can I please come over?”  
“Just tell me now if you’re lying, at this point I don’t mind if you come over just tell me the truth...”  
Kokichi shook his head,”I’m definitely not lying, I promise! No twisted fingers are hiding anywhere!”  
Shuichi sighed at him, there was no way to get this boy to budge for now.  
“Whatever, I’m sure it is fine. Just.... don’t break anything while you’re over, please?”  
“I promise!”


	10. Hang Out Montage Music Plays

They came in through the doggy door, it isn’t like Shuichi was given a key to get in. When in, Kokichi instantly examined every inch of the house. He climbed onto things Shuichi would crush if he got on top of, reach up to heights Shuichi couldn’t reach even with his human arms, and rubbed his face aggressively against most of the objects in the area.  
Shuichi didn’t quite understand most of Kokichi’s actions, but left it to the thought that he was probably just used to his previous life of marking places when he wasn’t apart of the program.  
At this point, Shuichi just left him to do him as he went back to his lonely upstairs routine. When done sniffing and rubbing against basically every surface in the room probably, Shuichi spotted Kokichi walking into the adults room curiously. It was the last place he was inspecting most likely. Shuichi watched him intently, letting the tv go once again.  
It was sorta entrancing watching the demon rub his slim, furry, body against things. Not only that, but his curious eyes that shined as they found something new, and tail that twitched in interest at anything sparkly; like the left over glitter from a mother and daughter project due the second day of school. Well, at least it was pretty until he started sneezing violently by inhaling one.  
Eventually, Kokichi jumped onto the bed with Shuichi, tail wavering to stable his balance. They shared a silent agreement, tv finding itself silent and its devices placed elsewhere for what would normally be an eerie loneliness if satan himself was not present tonight.  
——  
Shuichi woke up with a heavy feeling on his chest. He blinked awake his eyes, looking down to see the cat perfectly curled on him. In response to the sight, he rested his hand against the fluff, moving his hand against the cat and gaining a loud, satisfied, purring noise from it.  
He was honestly about to find himself dozing off again, but the sudden shock movement from Kokichi jolted him awake too.  
Kokichi licked his paw and rubbed his face on the end of the bed. Shuichi, in return, sat up and yawned loudly. Thinking back, he could only remembering laying his head on the pillows as Kokichi ran his face up Shuichi’s torso and then relaxed right at his chest, eyes closing slowly as they watched each other.  
In another language, that would be a sign, but Shuichi did not know the other’s language.  
The day Kokichi turned back to his human form was when he finally stumbled down the stairs after Shuichi called him down to eat. He ate fast, faster than he would in public, smiling brightly when he finished.  
“So, what would you like to do? Or are you planning on going home now? We did sleep in a little late,” Shuichi suggested when they finished their meal.  
Kokichi shrugged,”don’t know...”  
He sounded extremely sleepy even if he had most likely slept the whole night on Shuichi. Though, now that Shuichi could get a good look at the sluggish boy, he realized the drained eyes, the pale, unhealthily skinny body, and especially the little dollop of food Kokichi forgot on his cheek.  
He reached over, cleaning off the slow to react yet confused cat’s face,”let’s go out for a little walk, ok? Then we’ll come back and hang out until my family gets home, sound good?”  
His response was a slow, sleepy smile, nod.  
——  
They walked around town, not really seeing much of anything, it was just mindless walking. Even so, Kokichi seemed to enjoy himself, which brought a smile to Shuichi’s face.  
At one point they bought ice cream and Kokichi pointed out some places he remembered Dice getting into trouble with.  
”It wasn’t anything big,” he’d tell Shuichi, smile ready to be shot right into his heart.  
“But one time I actually got to witness one, it was nice a flashy and there was money everywhere!” He beamed up at Shuichi, taking another lick at his ice cream when Shuichi returned his excitement with an interested “oh really?”  
When they finally got too tired to walk again around the spot they were doing rounds on, they went back home. Shuichi would take the spotlight there, showing off Amina and Quilinn’s stuff with pride in them.  
At one point in the adventures of talking about the kids, Shuichi had to fend off any sex jokes that came his way on if he was around to hear the parents going at it. This ended with a defeated “awwww” from Kokichi when the answer was always “no, Ouma-kun.”  
After putting things back in place, They found themselves back in the parents room, Kokichi snooping through drawers as Shuichi stayed sprawled out on the nice cool bed.  
It wasn’t so cool in the room when Kokichi at one point found a phallic object in the room and waved it about like a kid in a toy store.  
“Saihara-Chaaaan~!” He called as he pulled it out.  
“Hmmm?” Shuichi responded, eyes closed while he rested on the bed.  
“I found something.... erotic....”  
Shuichi instantly jumped up, he knew exactly what he meant because he too found it one day while snooping about.  
“P-Put that away Ouma-kun! That’s nasty!!!”  
Kokichi looked at him with a bored expression, his hand moving side to side to make it jiggle,”awww, I was hoping it wasn’t used yet.... bummer....”  
“Oh good god just put it away,” Shuichi pleaded as he turned away from the sight.  
This whole scene earned one giggle and another scarred memory for Shuichi.  
They spent the rest of their time sitting on the bed, watching boring tv but not having the nerve to say it was boring. With the time of boring tv, Shuichi thought, but he wish he didn’t. He was getting sad, eventually his companion would leave. Yeah sure he’d see him again at work, but the possibility of having Kokichi back to hang out was a wild card. The kids had school, and from his perspective he could hear that they’d have less trips out on weekends eventually.  
Once the time came to leave, the two headed downstairs, both not knowing what to say. They stood at the door awkwardly, Kokichi’s blank face making the silence worse.  
“Hey, Saihara-Chan,” Kokichi started.  
“Yes?”  
“We should probably go to the crime scene today, it’d be a shame if they came back and tampered with things, that’s what they do.” He turned away, but before he did his expression looked defeated.  
Shuichi wanted to ask what was wrong, but the boy then said his goodbyes too quickly and left him behind the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Monday will probably be the last Monday upload as I have school coming up. The schedule will be reorganized to fit my school schedule. For now, enjoy the next two Monday’s uploads and expect any sudden updates either before, or after the following Monday’s.


	11. Investigation Music

Shuichi waited out the rest of the day in boredom. Sure, his family was here and the time for bed was soon, but all he had of Kokichi was his scent that lingered heavily on his dog bed, the rest of the scent being masked by the people.  
All he could do was sniff his bed obnoxiously, not noticing Amina’s confused stare over the exhilarating feeling he got out of just one whiff alone.  
“Shuichi, what’s so interesting about the bed today?” She asked, snapping Shuichi back to reality.  
Shuichi’s head came up slowly, he blinked at her, then looked away with embarrassment.  
“Don’t ignore me! Tell me right now or I’ll run away with your bed,” she threatened.  
Shuichi turned back to her with a small growl, then directed his attention behind her to check the room.  
He laid his head down low,”because it smells good,” he whispered.  
“Why?”  
“.....” he thought on his options, he could just tell her he had company over, or try and trick her with a lie.  
Thing is Amina was an excellent lie detector.  
He gruffed out,”it.... it smells like.... something I like....”  
“Was Akamatsu-San here,” she blankly asked.  
Shuichi paused,’little shit.’  
“No.”  
“Awww, did Shu-Shu find a different girlfriend then?”  
Shuichi stared at her with a frown.  
“B-Boyfriend?”  
Shuichi continued.  
“Crush?”  
Shuichi sighed, he didn’t like any of the options, or at least he didn’t want to accept any of them. Kaede has already told him when she first found out he liked her that he was a “hopeless romantic” and that he should “really take his time to know people.” And by god was she right. Yeah he did like Kaede quite a lot, but by this point he sees her more as a sibling who was really into girls.  
He didn’t want to rush things, nor get obsessively attached again, but now that he thought about it.  
“Crush....” he grumbled out angrily.  
“I can’t hear you Shuichi, speak up,” she mocked, causing an eye roll from her dog.  
She chuckled, patting his head,”don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll get them! You’re an irresistible dog after all!”  
Honestly, Shuichi was always confused on her vocabulary skills, but he smiled at her compliment anyways.  
“I just hope I’m not rushing into something.”  
——  
The crime scene was some big abandoned warehouse just a few miles away from the city. The place sported clown graffiti and the stale yet recognizable scent he had smelt at his house.  
In the middle sat some junk, some of which were useful devices that were dropped as a “plot device” as Kokichi would call them. One was a little homemade “calculator”, something Kokichi remembered from the last time they took control of an electrical device. Another was a smashed tv, inside was a little note that read “Good luck to the unlucky detective of this case <3.”  
The stale scent led to a back door, but abruptly halted there, probably from taking a helicopter away due to the area around it being a mess of loose twigs and brambles.  
“Saihara-Chan~” Kokichi called out.  
Shuichi wondered over to him, leaving the outside to wait. Kokichi sat next to the smallest of details on the wall, something someone with keen eyes could only see or write.  
Shuichi knelt down beside him,”what is that?”  
“Words, duh, can you not read? Does that mean all that time you weren’t even reading those witness reports? Sneaky boy.”  
“God no, I can read, it’s just it is so small,” he retorted.  
“Well then I’ll do the honors of reading it to you, Saihara-Chan~!”  
Kokichi squinted back down at the text, going over it a few times then reading,”come to ••••”  
Shuichi tilted his head,”where is that?”  
Kokichi shrugged, looking excited to be invited somewhere by his idol.  
“Maybe they are gonna kidnap us and do kinky things to our bodies! Saihara-Chan, you’ll finally loose your virginity!”  
“Wait a minute-“ Shuichi started, but was suddenly violently pushed away.  
His attacker huffed in his ear as the other ear picked up a loud thud noise.  
“That was close,” was mumbled into his ear as Kokichi got up from Shuichi’s stiff, scared, body.  
Kokichi turned to what Shuichi assumes to be the loud thud, then back to the person he tackled,”did I scare ya? Get up detective.”  
Shuichi groaned as he sat up, he rubbed his head and turned his eyes towards the object that ran into the wall. What he saw was an iron ball, it wasn’t too big, but it sure did do a number on the wall. Sadly, that number broke from the impact.  
“Well there goes our evidence...” Shuichi frowned.  
Kokichi waved his finger at him,”silly Saihara-Chan, while you were stiff as a rock, I found out there’s something in the rubble!”  
Shuichi took a closer look and sure enough there was a damaged microphone.  
“A microphone? Why would this be here- ow ow, Ouma-kun! What are you doing!?”  
Kokichi knocked on Shuichi’s head,”hello? Is there a brain in there? It’s simple!”  
Shuichi caught his partner’s fist and moved it away,”just tell me already...”  
“Well-“ his eyes gleamed,”from previous cases, Dice had used microphones to pick up certain words and trigger things! I’m guessing this one’s code was the writing on the wall, my bad!”  
“But that doesn’t explain why they would set up this trap, it isn’t normal to just blurt out things after all,” Shuichi questioned,”I mean, unless they were trying to kill us, but you said that they don’t do that.”  
“Wooooow Saihara-Chan!! You’re so stupid,” he grumbled out the last part.  
“What this time?”  
“Have you seriously not read the were animal manual?” Kokichi crosses his arms in disapproval.  
“Of course I have!”  
“How long ago?”  
Shuichi looked down, embarrassed, he hasn’t looked at it since he last had a test on it. What? A 300 paged book of rules is exhausting to read even if Shuichi liked reading.  
“Well, let me enlighten you,” the cat began,”ahem, a were animal cannot go to a location out of the designated city unless he or she has acquired evidence that leads to that place.”  
Shuichi narrowed his eyes at him,”thought you said you didn’t know the place?”  
Kokichi blinked,”oh no, no clue where it is, but!-” He shouted the last part, catching Shuichi off guard,”-if I know aaaannnnyyyythiiiing about their leader, he is suuuuper articulate about everything!”  
He took a breath,”not only that, but I’m sure by the time we figured out the location, he had already found out who was working on the case. I mean he found your house after all so he must’ve known he was working with a were animal detective.”  
“But how would he know about the rule?”  
“Saihara-Chan, this guy has alluded multiple different agencies since the beginning of time, stealing a simple book is probably like taking candy from a baby.”  
Kokichi gave him a look, one of “am I in the clear now?” Shuichi gave his answer with a defeated sigh.  
“Alright, Mr gut feeling....”  
Kokichi beamed and Shuichi turned away to the floor with a slight flush.  
“Either way, how are we going to be able to get to the place now? It was probably our best bet to finding more clues,” he mumbled.  
“Easy peasy-“ Kokichi did the 👌 sign,”-just leave that to me, I can crack the old boss open like a cold one and gain a pass out of the city!”  
Shuichi shook his head in disapproval of such an action, but didn’t object to the idea. With that conversation over, Shuichi scanned the room from their seat. He looked toward where he thought the path of the iron ball could’ve come from and noticed a sparkling object. That was most likely the place it came from.  
“Whatcha seein, Saihara-Chan?” Kokichi asked, scooting closer to his partner.  
“There’s something sparkly up there,” he said, pointing up at it.  
Kokichi eyeballed the object, his head seeming to tilt from what Shuichi’s peripheral vision could tell him. Then the little boy was replaced with a cat, hopping onto Shuichi’s head and causing a confused gasp.  
“Onward my mighty stead, take me to the sparkly!” Kokichi pointed forward with his paw.  
Shuichi wanted to shake his head at this gesture, but got up and did as he was told anyways. He stopped just above the object, Kokichi starting to knead at his head.  
“Ok, I need you to jump on 3.”  
“What?”  
“Shhh, just do it! Now get ready!”  
Shuichi sighed, getting ready to jump. He could feel more kneading on his head before it stopped and Kokichi called out a beginning “ready.”  
“1.... 2.... 3!”  
Shuichi jumped instantly, the pressure on his head releasing immediately. When he caught his balance again, he saw Kokichi hanging for dear life right next to the shiny thing. The only thing keeping him up was his front claws, the only thing keeping him from wobbling off was the hind legs that managed to stay stable on the wall.  
“Be careful, Ouma-kun!” Shuichi called out.  
“Don’t worry so much Saihara-Chan!” He nonchalantly hit at the object, loosening it to knock it down.  
“I’ve been doing worse tricks in my lifetime, this is ea-“  
Kokichi ate his words as he swung and hit air, the object beating him to falling down. His remaining front claws desperately sank into its hold, but the force of his other paw sent his back legs flailing in panic. Before he knew it, he found himself falling.  
“CATCH THE DEVICE!!!” He screeched as he fell, not caring about himself.  
In that split second, Shuichi was conflicted. Although he desired to catch his friend, he instantly trusted the cat’s words over his mind.  
He caught the device.  
An even louder screech rang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last reminder: this is most likely the last Monday upload due to school! Rescheduling is occurring, but uploads will be randomly placed once each week till situated!


	12. Aftermath of Heights

“Ouma-kun! Ouma-kun are you ok!?”  
Kokichi could hear Shuichi’s cries, but he couldn’t open his tightly shut eyes.  
‘I’ve been through worse,’ he tried to tell himself, but the impact wasn’t fading.  
‘You’ve done this before!’  
‘A long time ago, yes.’  
‘Then learn to take it again! Get up!’  
‘But I don’t want to, just let me go.’  
“Ouma-kun, wake up! Please....”  
A simple whimper brought him back to reality. His bones ached and he couldn’t move, but he could stare at his waker.  
He some how was cradled by the dog, his fur pressing up against the others as his partner whined for him to be ok. The scent of the dog’s fear wafted into his nose, but it still soothed him.  
The first movement he could make again was something he didn’t even realize he was doing. He kneaded at the dog, his eyes slightly open as he took in more of the soothing scent and comforting position. This act was not left unnoticed by the dog, his whimpering face getting nearer to lick gently at the top of Kokichi’s head. This too was soothing, and soon Kokichi found his hind legs working too.  
——  
When they finally got back to their workplace, it was time to eat. Kokichi was still a little sore, but he eventually was able to walk without hitching a ride on Shuichi’s neck.  
They gave the shiny object to forensics to look at, it seemed at first glance to just be what shot out the iron ball.  
They didn’t talk to each other the rest of the day, the incident being the only bonding moment they needed for the day. They are in silence then and left in silence now.  
The only thing Shuichi worried about was if Kokichi could get home ok on his own, but Kokichi went his separate ways without any fuss.  
——  
Shuichi was tired. Simple as that. He didn’t play or pay attention to the kids, which resulted in their confusion. He didn’t even have much energy to go eat his food.  
He laid in his doggy bed, dozing and thinking. He remembered the scent of the cat, full of fear and pain, it hurt his body alone thinking on it. He pondered, was Kokichi ok? Did his legs heal up or is he permanently limp? He didn’t want to know, but he wanted to know.  
All he wanted was to continue the contact they had, although scary it was, it ended with total harmony and safety. He would whine to himself thinking about it, earning the girls inspecting his odd behaviors a concerned look.  
“Shuichi, what’s wrong?” Amina begged him to tell him, only a whine coming out as an answer.  
Quilinn petted Shuichi, it was soothing, but he still whimpered.  
“Is there anything we can do?”  
He closed his eyes.  
Quilinn scratches behind his ear.  
He curled more into himself.  
“Mooooom!!!” Amina scrambled away, trying to get assistance.  
Quilinn stayed by his side as Amina dragged her mom to the dog.  
“I think there is something wrong with Shuichi, mom,” she told her mother as she knelt down.  
“You ok, buddy?” She asked her dog, not gaining any sort of reply as expected from a dog.  
Lexie stared at him and he stared right back up at her. He didn’t know why the humans tried to communicate with the dogs, they didn’t know their language originally, so why ask? Sure he’s an exception since he was raised with both tongues, but still, she only knew he had one.  
She roughly shook Shuichi as a pet, then stood up,”come on big guy, come with me,” she ushered.  
Shuichi huffed, he had to obey when the parents were around of course. He followed her, taking him up the stairs to her husband.  
“Elmer, Shuichi is depressed, or at least it looks like it,” she spoke softly to him like the dog couldn’t hear.  
“Depressed? Now you’re just being a jokester here.”  
“Well, it isn’t like he’s really doing much, usually the kids get him up easily, but today he’s just... not.” She looked down at the patiently sitting dog.  
Elmer groaned as he slid off the bed and lowered to pet Shuichi’s face,”what’s your problem, ay? Cat got your tongue today?”  
Shuichi huffed at him, a sort of “yes”  
“See he’s fine, he laughed at my joke!” Elmer turned to his wife, he was always a lazy fellah.  
His wife glared at him, but didn’t object,”well if you say so, I just hope our dog doesn’t have some mental illness.”  
Elmer laughed at her,”c’mon, Lexie, he’s a fucking dog for Pete’s sake, he’s fine!”  
“That’s what you said the day before he barfed on the couch, Elmer.” She crosses her arms.  
“Yeah well, sometimes Mother Nature surprises ya, just let him be a sad puppy today.”  
And a sad puppy he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot to even post this I-
> 
> I still don’t really know a schedule, but today I had off so I thought to just do it today. I may just post every Sunday if nothing is happening, so expect another chapter in like 2 days : ]


	13. Unknowing Anger

Shuichi got to work extra early. He snuck out when the family was eating, them thinking he probably just went out for a walk.  
He waited patiently and nervously in their shared office, leg getting impatient and jumping in its seat. His eyes darted around the room in panic when the clock he once stared at showed the normal time Kokichi would arrive.  
Thankfully, Kokichi eventually arrived in one piece. He was silent on his entrance, Shuichi starring at him with concern. The boy sat down, Shuichi could see a tiny wince, but other than that he seemed fine.  
“Are.... are you doing ok?” Shuichi asked when Kokichi finally stopped fidgeting in his chair.  
Kokichi nodded, his face intensely blank. They sat there for a little longer, then there was a sudden knock on the door.  
“I’ll get it,” Shuichi blurted and stood up quickly.  
He opened the door to see his boss,”oh, hello sir, what brings you here?”  
“Mr Ouma wanted to talk to me about yesterday’s finds, he said it was important.”  
Shuichi nodded, remembering what Kokichi planned out.  
“He also asked for you to stand out while we talked, so if you hear screaming, don’t come in,” the boss grimly told him.  
Shuichi was visibly concerned by this, looking back at Kokichi’s backside that hadn’t even moved.  
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he can handle the smallest shock, I’m not going to kill him unless he attacks me first.”  
Shuichi breathed out, happy from the slight reassurance,”Alright.”  
“See ya when we are done, Mr Saihara.”  
——  
Shuichi sat on the ground outside the door. The room was basically sound proof, his ears only picking up muffles. He wished he had a little more time to talk to Kokichi about yesterday, but guessed it would be better to talk about it some other time.  
He wanted to understand why Kokichi had gone silent on him, did he do something wrong? Yeah sure, he could understand feeling a little embarrassed about the whole ordeal, but he did it to try and calm down the ball of fur.  
He just hoped this encounter didn’t ruin their relationship. They were finally getting closer other than talks about Dice, weren’t they? Oh god he begged for himself not to be looking into things too much.  
Shuichi tapped his foot on the ground, his mind filling with other things; like hatred towards Dice’s leader for setting up a trap that could possibly ruin their bond. He cursed under his breath, he promised now that he’d take it more seriously. This guy threatened not only Kokichi, but also his family due to him being spotted at his house.  
His tapping got louder.  
He was going to stomp this man into the ground, take everything he loved away from him, if he even had anything to love.  
Shuichi growled lowly.  
He hoped and prayed one day he’ll be face to face with that punk and be able to throw his own iron ball at him, maybe try dropping him from a massive height instead. Or find him and stalk him a bit, make him uneasy like he did when he saw him come to his house.  
Shuichi’s instincts were set, no matter what, he’d take down this Phantom Thief.  
——  
The boss came out when the announcement for eating rang. He didn’t even look Shuichi’s way when he stormed out, his expression conflicting.  
Kokichi and him went to go eat, sitting at their normal seat after a long while of silence.  
“So,” Shuichi started,”how’d it go?”  
Kokichi stopped drinking his juice,”he’ll leave a pass on our desk if it is a yes, other than that I have no direct answer.”  
Shuichi looked back at his food, leaving the conversation. Sure, Kokichi was quiet at times, but did all this really hit him that hard? Last time they did something close he bounced right back, what was different now? Shuichi was frustrated, he could talk himself, but would it even lead anywhere? Kokichi and him definitely weren’t the type to talk about personal topics around others, but he could at least start small talk, right?  
But no matter how much he tried to muster up speech, he’d shut it down with more food to the face.


	14. Drive To

The next day the two of them came into work and there was a pass sitting on their desk. Shuichi didn’t know what kind of persuasion Kokichi used to get it, but he was sure it was an odd one.  
With the pass they were allowed to go to the location they had read, it was some place about 2 hours away from the city. With that information, they were locked into a car for 2 hours.  
They were being driven by someone else as to make sure they didn’t just drive away and never come back. Her name was Harukawa Maki and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with them the whole way there, keeping the divider between them shut so she couldn’t hear them.  
She had full right to this, cause Kokichi found it fun to start harassing her when they met up; which also meant he must’ve been feeling better.  
Shuichi saw this as the perfect opportunity to talk, but Kokichi beat him to it.  
“I’m going to take a nap on your lap, don’t move.”  
Kokichi crawled into Shuichi’s lap without even giving consent. He flushed as Kokichi curled into himself and got comfortable, he wanted to push him off, but decided to just take it. Kokichi would rub his face against and knead at Shuichi’s inner thigh, his movements sometimes setting off his no no area. Shuichi just breathed in deeply and tried his best to ignore it, eventually his efforts to avoid moving the boy being rewarded as he finally passed out and stopped moving so much.  
——  
It was only half an hour left when Maki finally decided to try talking to them.  
“Hey,” she said firmly, opening the divider at what seemed to be a stoplight,”did he fall asleep?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Nice, he was irritating as all hell.” She turned back to the road,”How do you put up with him at all?”  
“It’s just-“ he scratched nervously at the back of his neck,”-he’s not so bad if you uh.... get to know him.”  
Maki nodded from her seat,”so, what’s your case about, must be important if you got a free pass.”  
“A case dealing with some cold case group. They are threatening war on god knows who.”  
“That Dice group?” Maki asked.  
“Yeah, did you know about them before this?”  
“Sorta, I was once a bodyguard for one investigation, nothing interesting popped up though other than petty confetti traps,” she sounded annoyed.  
“That’s typical of them, they’re tricksters after all....” he sighed.  
“Does that sack of shit on your lap know anything about them?”  
Shuichi blushed,”uh, umm, yeah.... he thought their tricks were cool back in the day and decided to study them.”  
“Ah, so he got the job because he knew them.”  
“I’m guessing so,” Shuichi ended, them stopping the car at their location.


	15. Gas Emotions

The destination turned out to be another abandoned place, this time it being more prettied up. It was an old restaurant that went out of business.  
It looked recently abandoned, like people had been there a few days ago or even hours. It sure did have a steady scent from the outside, one of which was the leader’s.  
The scent led into the building, but opening the door was a trap. Upon Shuichi opening those twin doors for everyone to come in, a giant cloud of smoke sprayed out at them. It hit Shuichi’s face the most, making him cough violently from it getting in his nose.  
Shuichi couldn’t breath nor move until Maki tackled him out of the assaulting gasses. He wheezed heavily, his breathing failing on him.  
He yelped when he was smacked on his back by Maki, trying to get him to breath. He gasped desperately when it finally worked.  
“Next time don’t freeze up directly in the smoke,” she snarled, turning away from Shuichi as he continued to cough.  
Shuichi’s mouth was dry,”is.... is Ouma-kun-“  
“He’s fine, here.”  
Shuichi moved his head up, eyes blinking multiple times from sudden, overbearing brightness, but noticed and grabbed the water bottle offered to him. He quickly gulped down some, then managed to look for Kokichi. Sure enough, Kokichi was fine. He sat wide eyed not too far away from Maki and him, his eyes darting to Shuichi when he noticed him starring.  
“Are you ok?” He asked, sorta dazed sounding.  
Shuichi’s head hurt from the sound, but his heart burned with happiness from the question. All he could do was nod and shakily stand up, Maki having to catch him at one point to fix his balance. Kokichi quickly stood up too, walking closer and looking back at the ongoing draining of smoke.  
“Do you know what that smoke could’ve been?” Maki cut in.  
Kokichi shook his head,”I’ve never seen them experiment with their gasses, so it’s probably just normal gas.”  
Maki narrowed her eyes at Kokichi, but didn’t further talking. Shuichi’s eyes couldn’t stop blinking however. Not only was it excruciatingly bright in the middle of the night, but he could’ve sworn he never saw writing on the building before.  
“Well-“ Maki turned back to the building,”-I’m going to break open the windows so then we can drain out the smoke, or hopefully find whatever produced it.”  
Shuichi glared at her back,”what? Are you stupid, don’t do that!”  
Both Kokichi and Maki sent glances towards him, one of surprise and the other with terrifying anger.  
“Excuse me?”  
“Excuse me seconded?”  
Shuichi felt irritated, how were they that blind?  
He pointed at the building,”there’s writing on the glass and walls, can you seriously not see it? It is plain as day!”  
The two took a glance over, but continued their same expressions when their faces returned to him.  
“I don’t fucking see anything, mutt,” Maki spat.  
“Yeah! All I see is wall!”  
His anger got worse, rubbing his eyes aggressively and looking again. Sure enough, the writing was still there. It was bright, obnoxious, text with absolutely no way of missing it. It was in vibrant colors and looked like it was painted on with some sort of liquid due to melted lettering.  
“Are you serious?” He countered, ignoring the deadly ones gaze and walking past her to the building.  
He touched the wall, then looked back at them,”it says shit right here!”  
“Wooooaaaah now, Saihara-Chan! What’s with your attitude today?”  
“I’d like to know too, and it better be reasonable or I’m going to kill you.”  
Shuichi growled, rubbing his eyes more aggressively, these people were really pissing him off, including himself. He felt a terrible rage he couldn’t control to the point he didn’t realize the amount of rubbing he did until Maki pried his hands away from his eyes.  
“What the hells wrong with you!? You’re going to hurt yourself, you idiot!”  
It was a rough action, and it hurt his arms, resulting in him growling back at Maki’s retort.  
“Don’t growl at me, dog.” Her brows clenched in equal rage.  
“H-hey now, let’s just all calm down and listen to each other, ok?” Kokichi cut in, his expression a rather serious concern.  
“Shut up,” the two said with equal desire to knock the runt out.  
“Ok. Now you’re just being rude-“ Kokichi frowned,”-but! Think about it! What if the smoke is making us angry? Or making Saihara-Chan see things? Just think logically for once guys.”  
They glared at him for a few minutes, Maki releasing her grip on Shuichi with a nod.  
“If it’s the smoke, then that would explain Saihara-Kun’s anger and vision-“  
“He did get a big whiff of it after all!”  
Maki nodded,”that better be it. For now, just have him go around the place and inspect, I’ll be in the car, call me to smash some windows once you’re done.”  
With that, she sent a final rivaling glare at Shuichi and left. Shuichi was visibly still in an uproar, his doggish features such as a bushy tail, flattened ears, and sharpened claws out signaling his primal rage.  
It honestly scared Kokichi.  
“Hey,” Kokichi tried to reach out to the beast.  
There was only a low growl and a glance away, but he continued,”are you ok? Is something wrong?”  
Shuichi didn’t expect the two soft hands to grab ahold of his so delicately, but the feeling soothes his nerves. His tail’s fur flattened, his ears perked up, and his eyes softened as Kokichi shuffled closer. He was unsettled, but Kokichi continued to hold and rub his thumbs against Shuichi’s palms until his claws went back to nails.  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know this would happen, Saihara.... please calm down, ok?”  
Shuichi sighed heavily,”ok.....”  
If it made it easier on Shuichi to concentrate, then Kokichi kept ahold of his hand.  
—————————————————————  
If their hands separated, it was so then Shuichi could write down the messages only he could see. None of them were very interesting, mainly just teasing jabs on how they got you to get in contact with the gas. There were little hints and drawings on the walls and mirrors, hints resulting in their curiosity to jump past the smoke and drawings making Shuichi tilt his head cutely.  
“You need to stop doing that.” Kokichi pouted when Shuichi’s head tilted for the 12th time.  
Kokichi earned a head tilt his way at the question,”doing what?”  
He gave a little “uhhh” to Shuichi, but his companion was still oblivious.... which also started to make him frustrated at this fact and scratch at his head.  
“Hey now, stop that!” Kokichi pried the hand away.  
Shuichi huffed, but obeyed and directed his attention to the walls. He never did stop tilting his head.  
——  
Nothing could’ve prepared any of them for the bush. At first glance, it was a normal bush, but Shuichi didn’t tilt his head at this one cutely.  
It was more of a snap.  
It was like he’d been possessed, his neck suddenly jerking and a loud pop coming from it. The sound tortured Kokichi’s nerves on its impact with his ears, causing great distress.  
Shuichi’s grip tightened, it was a terrible feeling to be the hand in between such anger. Kokichi regretted holding his hand in that time.  
Both bodies shook, one of outrage and the other of horror.  
“S-Saihara....?”  
He didn’t get an understandable answer, only a gurgled growl. Kokichi was panicking, his hand was really starting to hurt, sure it was probably less clenched then the other one, but still.  
Kokichi bit his lip to try to divert the pain,“Shuichi.... you’re hurting me....” his voice shook.  
The gripping stopped, Shuichi’s hand ripping itself away from Kokichi’s and his expression twisting. He looked depressed, a little bit of shock hiding between his appearance.  
Kokichi gripped his pained wrist with his other hand, hissing at the sting it gave off. Kokichi instantly wished he didn’t look away, for his eyes travelled back up to see Shuichi bashing at his head, tears gushing through his eyes.  
Kokichi forgot about his pain, lurching forward to grab the assaulting hands,”Shuichi! Shuichi calm down!”  
It didn’t help.  
Shuichi cried.  
Shuichi flailed.  
Shuichi didn’t stop, no matter how much Kokichi cried right back at him. What went wrong? Did he breath in too much of it? He didn’t remember these side effects. What the hell was written on that wall again?? What made it so triggering?  
At the point Kokichi’s arms started to die out, he decided to take a more personal route. If this baby was a pussy in something, it was hurting his partner on purpose.  
Kokichi took the opening as soon it reared up, lunging straight into Shuichi’s gut. There was an audible gasp from the man he hugged tightly and nothing else. It was finally silent, no whining, no flailing or kicking up the poor grass, quiet.  
The small boy rubbed his back, his face burning up from such an activity. It seemed to help, the tense figure slacking in his embrace. He could sense the tiny droplets implant themselves on his head and a quivering hand generously giving thanks to his back.  
It was a good, fuzzy, feeling, but as much as Kokichi wanted to stay, he knew he couldn’t.  
He moved away slowly,”Shuichi?”  
A name to others is so simple, but the mess sitting in his eyes shifted nervously as his face flared.  
“What’s on the wall?”  
He kept his hands still on Shuichi’s knees even as he started to tense back up.  
“Shuichi,” he interrupted the anger,”stay calm for me, please?”  
He instantly softened like wet clay.  
His eyes shifted to the wall,”bomb.... they are.... um... bombing... a-a training center and I uhm my-“  
Shuichi gulped as Kokichi reassuringly rubbed his knee,”they’re.... going to bomb the training facility.... the one with... my mother... and father... and-“  
“That’s enough.”  
Shuichi’s eyes jerked open with question.  
Kokichi realized his mistake, reaching to touch at the wet face in apology,”I don’t want you to cry anymore, so please end there.”  
Shuichi’s eyes hurt as he nodded, moving his hand to rub away the sadness from his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaahhh school has been so busy and draining that I haven’t been able to post for awhile! I’m so sorry!
> 
> I’ve also been sorta moving away from danganronpa, but I won’t stop writing for it (especially this story), I’m just stuck at where I am currently. Updates are still going to be up to my state due to my lack of energy.
> 
> Sorry again for missing god knows how many weeks cause I have no energy to look it up ;;;;;;;

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been working on this for awhile and have a good amount of chapters ready to be read over and posted, but I’m gonna not mass spam em and make you guys wait : ]
> 
> Idk what the schedule for these chapters will be, and idk if I’ll even have a schedule, but until I figure it out they’ll be posted randomly.
> 
> The title is based off a song by Mother Mother cause bless them  
> The song is the same as the title if you want to listen to it.


End file.
